1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to perpendicular magnetic recording media, such as perpendicular magnetic recording disks for use in magnetic recording hard disk drives, and more particularly to a perpendicular magnetic recording medium with an “exchange-spring” recording layer structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Horizontal or longitudinal magnetic recording media, wherein the recorded bits are oriented generally parallel to the surfaces of the disk substrate and the planar recording layer, has been the conventional media used in magnetic recording hard disk drives. Perpendicular magnetic recording media, wherein the recorded bits are stored in the recording layer in a generally perpendicular or out-of-plane orientation (i.e., other than parallel to the surfaces of the disk substrate and the recording layer), provides a promising path toward ultra-high recording densities in magnetic recording hard disk drives. A common type of perpendicular magnetic recording system is one that uses a “dual-layer” medium. This type of system is shown in FIG. 1 with a single write pole type of recording head. The dual-layer medium includes a perpendicular magnetic data recording layer (RL) on a “soft” or relatively low-coercivity magnetically permeable underlayer (SUL) formed on the substrate. The RL is typically a granular ferromagnetic cobalt alloy, such as a CoPtCr alloy with a hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) crystalline structure having the c-axis oriented generally perpendicular to the RL.
The SUL serves as a flux return path for the field from the write pole to the return pole of the recording head. In FIG. 1, the RL is illustrated with perpendicularly recorded or magnetized regions, with adjacent regions having opposite magnetization directions, as represented by the arrows. The magnetic transitions between adjacent oppositely-directed magnetized regions are detectable by the read element or head as the recorded bits.
FIG. 2 is a schematic of a cross-section of a prior art perpendicular magnetic recording disk showing the write field H acting on the recording layer RL. The disk also includes the hard disk substrate that provides a generally planar surface for the subsequently deposited layers. The generally planar layers formed on the surface of the substrate also include a seed or onset layer (OL) for growth of the SUL, an exchange break layer (EBL) to break the magnetic exchange coupling between the magnetically permeable films of the SUL and the RL and to facilitate epitaxial growth of the RL, and a protective overcoat (OC). As shown in FIG. 2, the RL is located inside the gap of the “apparent” recording head (ARH), which allows for significantly higher write fields compared to longitudinal or in-plane recording. The ARH comprises the write pole (FIG. 1) which is the real write head (RWH) above the disk, and a secondary write pole (SWP) beneath the RL. The SWP is facilitated by the SUL, which is decoupled from the RL by the EBL and produces a magnetic image of the RWH during the write process. This effectively brings the RL into the gap of the ARH and allows for a large write field H inside the RL. However, this geometry also results in the write field H inside the RL being oriented nearly normal to the surface of the substrate and the surface of the RL, i.e., along the perpendicular easy axis of the RL grains, as shown by typical grain 1 with easy axis 2. The nearly parallel alignment of the write field H and the RL easy axis has the disadvantage that relatively high write fields are necessary to reverse the magnetization because minimal torque is exerted onto the grain magnetization. Also, a write-field/easy-axis alignment increases the magnetization reversal time of the RL grains, as described by M. Benakli et al., IEEE Trans. MAG 37, 1564 (2001).
For these reasons, “tilted” media have been theoretically proposed, as described by K.-Z. Gao et al., IEEE Trans. MAG 39, 704 (2003), in which the magnetic easy axis of the RL is tilted at an angle of up to about 45 degrees with respect to the surface normal, so that magnetization reversal can be accomplished with a lower write field and without an increase in the reversal time. However, there is no known fabrication process to make a high-quality recording medium with a RL having a tilted easy axis.
A perpendicular recording medium that emulates a tilted medium and is compatible with conventional fabrication processes has been proposed. This type of medium uses an “exchange-spring” structure in the RL to achieve a magnetic behavior that emulates the behavior of a tilted medium. In an exchange-spring perpendicular recording medium, the RL structure is a composite of a magnetically “hard” layer (higher coercivity) and a magnetically “soft” layer (lower coercivity) that are ferromagnetically exchange-coupled. An intermediate coupling layer may be located between the hard and soft magnetic layers to reduce the strength of the interlayer exchange coupling. The two magnetic layers typically have different anisotropy fields (Hk). (The anisotropy field Hk of a ferromagnetic layer with uniaxial magnetic anisotropy Ku is the magnetic field that would need to be applied along the easy axis to switch the magnetization direction.) In the presence of a uniform write field H the magnetization of the lower-Hk layer will rotate first and assist in the reversal of the magnetization of the higher-Hk layer, a behavior that is sometimes called the “exchange-spring” behavior. Exchange-spring perpendicular recording media are described by R. H. Victora et al., “Composite Media for Perpendicular Magnetic Recording”, IEEE Trans MAG 41 (2), 537-542, February 2005; and J. P. Wang et al., “Composite media (dynamic tilted media) for magnetic recording”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86 (14) Art. No. 142504, Apr. 4, 2005. Pending application Ser. No. 11/231,516, filed Sep. 21, 2005 and assigned to the same assignee as this application, describes a perpendicular magnetic recording medium with an exchange-spring RL structure formed of a lower high-Hk ferromagnetic layer, an upper low-Hk ferromagnetic layer and an intermediate coupling layer between the two ferromagnetic layers.
The problem of thermal decay exists for perpendicular recording media with conventional RLs and for media with exchange-spring RL structures. As the thickness of the RL structure decreases, the magnetic grains become more susceptible to magnetic decay, i.e., magnetized regions spontaneously lose their magnetization, resulting in loss of data. This is attributed to thermal activation of small magnetic grains (the superparamagnetic effect). The thermal stability of a magnetic grain is to a large extent determined by KuV, where Ku is the magnetic anisotropy constant of the layer and V is the volume of the magnetic grain. Thus a RL with a high Ku is important for thermal stability. However, in a medium with an exchange-spring RL structure, one of the magnetic layers has very low Ku, so that this layer can not contribute to the thermal stability of the RL.
To address the problem of thermal decay in exchange-spring media, pending application Ser. No. 11/372,295, filed Mar. 9, 2006 and assigned to the same assignee as this application, describes a perpendicular recording medium with an exchange-spring RL structure formed of two ferromagnetic layers with substantially similar anisotropy fields Hk that are ferromagnetically exchange-coupled by an intermediate nonmagnetic or weakly ferromagnetic coupling layer. Because the write head produces a larger magnetic field and larger field gradient at the upper portion of the RL, while the field strength decreases further inside the RL, the upper ferromagnetic layer can have a high anisotropy field. The high field and field gradient near the top of the RL, where the upper ferromagnetic layer is located, reverses the magnetization of the upper ferromagnetic layer, which then assists in the magnetization reversal of the lower ferromagnetic layer. Because both ferromagnetic layers in this exchange-spring type RL have a high anisotropy field and are sufficiently exchange coupled, the thermal stability of the medium is not compromised.
Both horizontal and perpendicular magnetic recording media that use recording layers of granular ferromagnetic cobalt alloys exhibit increasing intrinsic media noise with increasing linear recording density. Media noise arises from irregularities in the recorded magnetic transitions and results in random shifts of the readback signal peaks. High media noise leads to a high bit error rate (BER). Thus to obtain higher areal recording densities it is necessary to decrease the intrinsic media noise, i.e., increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), of the recording media. The granular cobalt alloys in the RL structure should thus have a well-isolated fine-grain structure to reduce intergranular exchange coupling, which is responsible for high intrinsic media noise. Enhancement of grain segregation in the cobalt alloy RL can be achieved by the addition of segregants, such as oxides of Si, Ta, Ti, Nb, Cr, V, and B. These oxides tend to precipitate to the grain boundaries, and together with the elements of the cobalt alloy, form nonmagnetic intergranular material.
However, unlike horizontal recording media, where the complete absence of intergranular exchange coupling provides the best SNR, in perpendicular recording media the best SNR is achieved at some intermediate level of intergranular exchange coupling. Also, intergranular exchange coupling improves the thermal stability of the magnetization states in the media grains. Thus in perpendicular recording media, some level of intergranular exchange coupling is advantageous.
What is needed is a perpendicular magnetic recording medium with an exchange-spring RL structure that has optimal intergranular exchange coupling to produce high SNR, and high thermal stability, as well as superior writability.